[1] The suburb is bounded to the north by the Cairns Airport, to the east by Trinity Bay (16°54′11″S 145°46′26″E / 16.903°S 145.774°E / -16.903; 145.774 (Trinity Bay)),[3] and to the west by Lily Creek (16°54′05″S 145°45′12″E / 16.9014°S 145.7533°E / -16.9014; 145.7533 (Lily Creek (mouth))).

[5] Sheridan Street enters the suburb from the south-east (Cairns City) and exits to the north (Aeroglen).

[5] The suburb has a mix of uses having both permanent and holiday residential (the latter being mostly close to the shore), commercial buildings and community facilities.

[5] Cairns North is situated in the Yidinji traditional Aboriginal country.

[8] Edge Hill State School opened in Cairns North on 19 February 1917.

It was renamed Cairns North State School in 1939 (just prior to the opening of a separate Edge Hill State School in neighbouring suburb of Edge Hill in 1940).

[9][12] Mother of Good Counsel School opened on 29 March 1936 with 19 students, after Father Phelan (an Augustinian priest) saw the need for Catholic education in the area.

[14] Although Cairns North has a beach, in 1962 concerns about marine stingers in the seawater resulted in the establishment of the Tobruk Memorial swimming pool (not to be confused with the similarly named pool in Townsville).

[28][29] The Royal Flying Doctor Service has one of its nine Queensland bases at nearby Cairns Airport.

[37] It is part of the Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Ministries (CATSIM).

[37][40] Media related to Cairns North, Queensland at Wikimedia Commons